Estate auction with lots of vintage sleds

[bearrassler]

There is an auction with lots of vintage sleds and parts in NW MN (Gary, MN) on July 10th. Information can be found at www.bergauctions.com. It looks like most of them need a full restoration but it says between 400 and 500 sleds.

 

[skiroule]

A friend tipped me off about this auction a few weeks ago and if I feel up to making the trip, I might actually try to make it down there. Hate to pass up an opportunity to see an unusually large collection of old iron.
I could do the on-line thing but I’d rather see stuff first-hand.
Not sure how he did it but the guy sure had a knack for acquiring interesting sleds. Lots of good stuff, some of which may bring pretty big dollars. The 72 ATX triple should bring some serious money but I see three or four other sleds of interest in the photos that might be in my price range if a bidding war doesn’t erupt or the on-line bidders don’t drive the price up. There may be others that are not in the photos but might be worth a look as well.
There’s a ton of stuff outside that may be had reasonably cheap. Lots of parts sleds or sleds that would make a good starting point for a restoration.
If I can make it, maybe I can get a few photos of the more interesting stuff.

 

[rv245]

A friend tipped me off about this auction a few weeks ago and if I feel up to making the trip, I might actually try to make it down there. Hate to pass up an opportunity to see an unusually large collection of old iron.
I could do the on-line thing but I’d rather see stuff first-hand.
Not sure how he did it but the guy sure had a knack for acquiring interesting sleds. Lots of good stuff, some of which may bring pretty big dollars. The 72 ATX triple should bring some serious money but I see three or four other sleds of interest in the photos that might be in my price range if a bidding war doesn’t erupt or the on-line bidders don’t drive the price up. There may be others that are not in the photos but might be worth a look as well.
There’s a ton of stuff outside that may be had reasonably cheap. Lots of parts sleds or sleds that would make a good starting point for a restoration.
If I can make it, maybe I can get a few photos of the more interesting stuff.

A lot depends on when they started acquiring the sleds.

 

[skiroule]

A lot depends on when they started acquiring the sleds.

Good point. There was probably a period of time where people were just giving him stuff for free just to get it out of their garage, shed, barn, etc. I saw this happen first-hand at a salvage yard in the Twin Cities in the 90’s. The guy got a lot of his sled inventory for nothing from people wanting to be rid of old sleds on their property. Ironically, many of these same sleds would bring decent money now and could be an easy sell on the internet.

 

[xcr440]

A friend tipped me off about this auction a few weeks ago and if I feel up to making the trip, I might actually try to make it down there. Hate to pass up an opportunity to see an unusually large collection of old iron.
I could do the on-line thing but I’d rather see stuff first-hand.
Not sure how he did it but the guy sure had a knack for acquiring interesting sleds. Lots of good stuff, some of which may bring pretty big dollars. The 72 ATX triple should bring some serious money but I see three or four other sleds of interest in the photos that might be in my price range if a bidding war doesn’t erupt or the on-line bidders don’t drive the price up. There may be others that are not in the photos but might be worth a look as well.
There’s a ton of stuff outside that may be had reasonably cheap. Lots of parts sleds or sleds that would make a good starting point for a restoration.
If I can make it, maybe I can get a few photos of the more interesting stuff.

That actually looks like a 1971 racer triple - there are no head lights on the one I see in the pics, and the 1972 ATX 500 had headlights.

 

[skiroule]

That actually looks like a 1971 racer triple - there are no head lights on the one I see in the pics, and the 1972 ATX 500 had headlights.

Looking at it again, you got me there. Definitely not an ATX but then, being wrong is not unfamiliar territory for me. From what I can dig up, you are right about the year as well. Seems like a pretty rare sled, would like to be around when that one comes across the block but do not think I would be in the bidding competition.

 

[xcr440]

I’d be curious what the 1973 TX is next to it - a 500 under that hood would be a sweet find as well.

 

[skiroule]

I’d be curious what the 1973 TX is next to it - a 500 under that hood would be a sweet find as well.

sshhh! Even if it is just a 340 or 400, a 73 TX is on my bucket list of sleds.

 

[xcr440]

sshhh! Even if it is just a 340 or 400, a 73 TX is on my bucket list of sleds.

Or a 250 or a 440! They made all 5 in 1973.

 

[skiroule]

Well, nothing followed me home but I’m really glad I went, was a pretty fun day and gave me a chance to look the sleds over first-hand. Some of the sleds that looked good on-line turned out to be somewhat cobbled up affairs (wrong motor, scavenged seats off who knows what, etc.)
I thought a fair number of sleds went for somewhat high dollar figures for the condition. In some cases, the internet bidding drove the price up pretty fast. On a couple of internet buys, I couldn’t help but wonder if the buyer really knew what they were really buying. Photos don’t always tell the real story.
The Polaris race sled wasn’t that nice but still went for $1750, which was probably to be expected since it was a one-off sled. The crazy one was a 73 Starfire triple that was pretty rough and still went for $2700. Guess those guys love their Starfires!
There were a couple of 73 TX 500’s. I think both went for over $1000 and, in my opinion, weren’t worth that price. One had the wrong motor and the other had the correct motor but otherwise was a combination of parts collected from other years/models.
Some sleds did go for a decent price and there were a couple that I know I’ll regret not biting on. The first was a 73 TX 400, which went for $700 and was really a good candidate for restoration.

The second was a 72 ATX 340, which went for $450 and had all the right parts. I’m pretty sure I could have had it for $500, as the top bidder was shaving the price bump and didn’t look like he wanted to go higher. Hindsight is 2020, but thinking about it now, I seriously doubt if I will ever find one for that price. This will bother me for a while.

 

[xcr440]

Those two look like they’d be a lot of work to restore - but then again what isn’t at this point.

 

[skiroule]

Those two look like they’d be a lot of work to restore - but then again what isn’t at this point.

Yeah, although that’s typically expected, it might be one reason why I hesitated. I think that if I do another project, it will be in my Polaris comfort zone but maybe I just wasn’t feeling it at the time. We’ll see what happens after I finish my latest project.

 

[skiroule]

Having a connection with the Viking sleds, Bearrassler can appreciate this: There were two metal flake red Viking sleds in the lot, a Vanguard 440 SS and a Vigilante 440 SS (I think). One had a full-length seat and the other had a short seat and in both cases I was impressed with how thick the foam was on the seats - had to make for a more comfortable ride. I did take a photo of the Vanguard but forgot to get a shot of the Vigilante. These were both solid sleds and went cheap - around $300 each.